Wilsons head East

CAIRNS Getting to Cairns was a disaster! We arrived at Brisbane Airport to get our flight with plenty of time to spare. Unfortunately, when we got to the Jet Star check in desk they had no record of us on the flight even though we had paperwork with the booking numbers on it. We were told to go to the Qantas’ ticketing desk because apparently our tickets had not been ticketed and since the original booking was with Qantas it was they who would ticket the booking. Simple? No!!! The booking had been ticketed and the paperwork had ticketed numbers on it. The problem was that the booking had been cancelled (technical error!!!!!) the week after we booked it. Now of course the flight is FULL, in fact all the flights that day to Cairns with ... read more

We left Hangzhou on the 11.20am flight to Hong Kong. We were all a little somber as we were leaving China but also a little excited that we were heading out on our vacation. For as long as I can remember I have wanted to go to Australia but there was always a reason why we couldn’t….too expensive, too far, etc, etc, etc. It was only a 9hr flight from Hong Kong so we were not going to pass up the opportunity!!!! The flight was great because this leg to Hong Kong had been paid for by Kevin’s company as part of our relocation deal to get us home (they will then pay for our journey from Hong Kong to Boston after our vacation) and they booked us into Business Class. Comfy chairs, leg room, better ... read more

Happy Birthday Megan Well on July 17th Megan turned the grand old age of 12. We tease her by saying that she is definitely a member of the "pre-teen" club which she thinks is really cool. I think most of the time she actually thinks she is already in her teens!!!!! The weather was ridiculously hot, so Megan didn't want to go out to do much during the day. We had some things planned for the following week so she was quite happy to chill out at home with us. Kevin came home from work at lunchtime so we waited until he got home to open gifts. Megan was so excited to have some small gifts to open. She had thought that she would have wait until we got back to the US to get anything, ... read more

About 2 hrs drive south west of Hangzhou is a town called Qiandao and it is home to a huge lake called Thousand Island Lake. There are 1,078 large islands in the lake and a few thousand smaller ones. We had read in magazine and websites and been told by various friends that it was a great place to go and visit so we decided to go and explore. It must be a popular spot because there are a few fancy hotels by the lake offering all sorts of getaway breaks! Unfortunately at this time of year there aren’t really any cooler days so we set off at 7.30 am on Sunday morning with a weather forecast of 94 dg F and 100% humidity. What could be more comfortable!!!!! We were picked up by our friend’s ... read more

Song Dynasty A warm day had been forecast so we decided to check out the “Song Dynasty Town” with our friends Cheryl and John. The song dynasty is here in Hangzhou and we had heard that the “town” was built in the original Song style, with streets lined with colorful shops, stores and restaurants. We were curious and it sounded interesting so off we went. Our driver picked us all up and we made the 45 minute drive along the river to our destination. Driving on a Saturday along this road is always a nightmare. Wall to wall cars, lots of honking of horns and of course you always have the drivers that think it would be advantageous to get just one car ahead!!! On our journey Kevin had a call telling him that we were ... read more